Last week Al and I went down to Bangor to visit good friends Ron and Shirley Bush. This is always a blessing. Ron has been a significant part of our life's journey for 24 years, initially with his first wife Jo who died of cancer, and now with Shirley, his second wife. Once again heartache looms as Shirley struggles with ALS. Once again they demonstrate what love really looks like.
On this visit we were strolling through their orchard. They have numerous cherry and apple trees of all varieties, and 9 peach trees. As we checkout out the peach trees Ron showed us the buds where baby peaches were hatching. Then he told us that in order to get a good crop of peaches you have to pick off most of the young peaches, because there is supposed to be about 6 inches between each peach for them to have the room and get the nutrients to grow to a good size. "Last year," he said, "I picked off 6000 peaches. It was so hard for me to do, and I probably didn't pick off enough." I've been thinking about those peach trees all week.
Last night I was leading a small group working through developing a mission and vision statement for their "Second Adulthood." The peaches came up again... We talked about how a mission statement works as both a harness and a sword in our lives. I learned this from Laurie Beth Jones' book, THE PATH. It works as a harness to keep us focused and going in the right direction with our lives. It works as a sword because it cuts away those things that hinder, distract, and don't fit us well, as we discern who God is creating us to be, and the purposes to which we are called.
Like the peach trees...in order for us to produce good fruit we need to cull out those things that hinder growth, that divert our energy and the nourishment we need. They may be good things, but are they things for which God has created and called us?
A good mission statement means I can say "no" to those things that don't fit me well, because I am fully engaged in the things, people, causes, for which God has given me a passion and purpose.
I don't want to find myself complaining about being sooo busy I don't have time for the things God calls me to be invested in. Some of the peaches have to go...even though it is hard and they look good.
What may I need to let go of, say no to, in order to be free to...............?
On this visit we were strolling through their orchard. They have numerous cherry and apple trees of all varieties, and 9 peach trees. As we checkout out the peach trees Ron showed us the buds where baby peaches were hatching. Then he told us that in order to get a good crop of peaches you have to pick off most of the young peaches, because there is supposed to be about 6 inches between each peach for them to have the room and get the nutrients to grow to a good size. "Last year," he said, "I picked off 6000 peaches. It was so hard for me to do, and I probably didn't pick off enough." I've been thinking about those peach trees all week.
Last night I was leading a small group working through developing a mission and vision statement for their "Second Adulthood." The peaches came up again... We talked about how a mission statement works as both a harness and a sword in our lives. I learned this from Laurie Beth Jones' book, THE PATH. It works as a harness to keep us focused and going in the right direction with our lives. It works as a sword because it cuts away those things that hinder, distract, and don't fit us well, as we discern who God is creating us to be, and the purposes to which we are called.
Like the peach trees...in order for us to produce good fruit we need to cull out those things that hinder growth, that divert our energy and the nourishment we need. They may be good things, but are they things for which God has created and called us?
A good mission statement means I can say "no" to those things that don't fit me well, because I am fully engaged in the things, people, causes, for which God has given me a passion and purpose.
I don't want to find myself complaining about being sooo busy I don't have time for the things God calls me to be invested in. Some of the peaches have to go...even though it is hard and they look good.
What may I need to let go of, say no to, in order to be free to...............?
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